after hearing senator reid yesterday, senator mcconnell fired back. take a listen. >> we're coming up against a hard deadline here and i said, this is a conversation we should had months ago. and republicans aren't about to write a blank check for anything senate democrats put forward just because we find ourselves at the edge of the cliff. >> reporter: now senator mcconnell also said he was disappointed because when he got a call from the president two nights ago right before the president left hawaii to come back here to the white house, senator mcconnell says that was the first time he heard from any democrat, president, senator reid, nancy pelosi, anybody in about a month in terms of talking about the fiscal cliff. so everyone has sort of delayed really facing all of th up against the deadline now, jon. jon: that seems clear. ed henry at the white house there. ed, thank you. stay on it for us. for more on this let's bring in the editor of "campaigns & elections" magazine, shane deapril. campaigns and elections might be appropriate here because som